United Nations Regional Working Group on Roma

Roma and Travellers are among Europe’s most excluded groups, facing widespread discrimination (and often segregation) in many areas of life including housing, education, employment and health.

The UN Human Rights Office, which chairs the UN Regional Working Group on Roma, works in a number of countries to strengthen the effective exercise of human rights by Roma and Travellers. It does this through supporting work to develop government policies on Roma inclusion, strengthening the capacities of Roma – and in particular Romani women – to take part in local, regional, national and international decision-making, as well as by working to challenge patterns and practices of discrimination and abuse.

The UN Human Rights Office also leads the civil society group on Roma health, which enables Roma activists to comment on UN, European and national policies in this area.

“A little bit of money makes a real difference”Romani human rights activist, Valeriu Nicolae, runs and funds from his own resources a project aimed at giving young people in a Bucharest ghetto a future free of drugs and crime through education and sports.